Improvement jn railway-rail joints



T. ROBES.

Railway Rail-loints.

No. ll3,533.- Patented Oct. 7,1373,

UNITED STATES PATENT FFICEo TYREE ROBES, OF PULASKI, TENNESSEE.

IMPROVEMENT iN RAILWAY-RAIL JOINTS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 143,533, dated October '7, 1873; application filed f August 29, 1873.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, TYREE ROBES, of Pulaski, in the county of Giles and State of Tennessee, have invented a new and-useful Improvement in Railway-Bail Joints; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

The invention is a railway-rail joint designed to hold two rails from vertical or lateral flexure, and at the same time to prevent the battering of the ends of the rails by the rolling-stock; and it consists in fish-plates of peculiar construction combined with rails having a portion of the head cut away, all as more fully hereinafter explained.

To enable those skilled in the art to construct and employ my contrivance, I will proceed to describe the same in connection with the drawings belonging thereto,` in which- Figure l is a perspective view, showing the principal iishlplate. Fig. 2 is a vertical crosssectionof a railway-rail with my contrivance `*upon it, and Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the principal fish-plate secured to the rails.

Like letters denote corresponding parts in each gure. Y Y

A Al are two ordinary Trails, out of the heads a of which are cutaway portions b near the end, of a length about equal to half the length ofthe fish-plates B, hereinafter described, and in a vertical horizontal line corresponding with the line of the web of the rail. The fishplate B, which ts to the ends of rails in the sides thus cut away, is made of proper wrought metal, and iits vclosely over, around, and under the feet of the rail and to the web of the same, and extends up through the cut-away portion, having a head, c, in shape like one-half of the head of the rail divided longitudinally and vertically,which head c corresponds at its ends with the line of the top of the rails A A', but curves upward regularly to its center, which is opposite the point of contact of the two rails, at which point it is a little above the tops of such rails. A sh-plate, G, intended to be used on the opposite sidesV of the rails, fits closely to the web of the rails on that side, and over, around, and under the feet of the rails, and has its suitably-beveled top, d, resting against the under side of the heads of the rails. These fish-plates can be rolled in rolling-mills.

Ordinary screw bolts D with nuts pass through openings in both sh-plates and rails, and serve to hold them all in place.

In the use of my contrivance, which is intended for a suspension-joint, it will be found necessary to slip the sh-plate B over the end of one rail and insert the end of the other rail, the fish-plate O being capable of insertion from the side in the usual way.

By my construction vertical stiffness is given to the joint by the vertical strength and position of the fish-plate B, which carries the weight of the rolling-stock over the point of junction of the rails, and should the rails yield so that the tread comes upon them, the vertical resistance of the fish-plate O becomes fully eEectual.

The lateral flexureris provided against by the arching form of both iish-plates over and around the feet of the rails.

The battering of the ends of the rails is preventedby the top of the fish-plate B, which takes the tread at the ends of the rails. The same iish-plate, fitting into the recess b of the rails, prevents longitudinal movement or running of the rails, and the whole contrivance will give a very strong and durable joint, with the proper degree of elasticity to insure a smooth passage of the carriages.

Having thus described my railway-rail j oint,-

its manner of use, and some of its advantages, what I claim as new therein and my invention 1s In 'combination with the rails A A cut away at b b, as shown, the lish-plate B, adapted to grasp the feet of the rail, to support the web, and iill the recess formed in the rail by cutting away at b b, and the plate C, adapted to grasp the feet of the rails and support the web, as described.

This specification signed and witnessed this 26th day of August, v1873.

\\ TYREE ROBES.V

Witnesses:

WILLIAM H. MCCALLUM, JAMES M. EZELL. 

